Exodus 33:12-23

Transcript

00:00:00:05 – 00:00:21:07
Clint Loveall
Welcome back, everybody, as we close out the week together. Thanks for being with us. Grateful to have you with us. I think really an interesting passage today. Couple of passages you’ll see how far we get. But we’re at the end of chapter 33, the Book of Exodus. We we spoke yesterday. If you didn’t get a chance. I think yesterday’s texts are also very interesting.

00:00:21:09 – 00:00:53:11
Clint Loveall
A really affirmative moment for Moses, some interesting language, but kind of a reprieve, a reset, I think was the word you used, Michael. And I think, you know, yesterday’s passages were interesting. Today we get again, I don’t know of a religious parallel story of this anywhere else. Let me read it. You probably have heard it before, but whether or not you have listened and we’ll go through it in a minute, The Lord said to Moses, I will do the very thing that you’ve asked for you for.

00:00:53:11 – 00:01:16:04
Clint Loveall
You have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name. Moses said, Show me your glory, I pray. And he said, I will make my goodness pass before you and proclaim before you the name the Lord. And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. And I will show mercy on whom I show mercy.

00:01:16:44 – 00:01:36:37
Clint Loveall
But he said, You cannot see my face, for no one shall see me and live. And the Lord continued, See, there is a rock by me where you shall stand in that place. And while my glory passes by, I will put you in the cleft of the rock and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by.

00:01:37:08 – 00:02:01:10
Clint Loveall
Then I will take away my hand and you shall see my back. But my face shall not be seen. So an extension of yesterday’s conversation. Moses says, Lord, I want. I want to know you. I want to be in your presence. Today we have this explicit request Show me your glory and the word glory here in Hebrew, as is very close to a word like essence.

00:02:01:24 – 00:02:25:19
Clint Loveall
Show me your truth. Show me who you are. Don’t think of glory as a thing that God carries. It’s a thing that God is. It is something of the reality of God. And God says, I will do that. And I’ll say my name before you, the Lord. And remember that the first time Moses heard this was back at the burning bush.

00:02:25:39 – 00:02:47:49
Clint Loveall
Remember that when you see Lord in all capital letters, it is the sacred name your way. It is that word. And that title was used and we can talk about why we translate it. Lord, another time. But when you see the all caps, that is the divine name as it is in this case. So God says, I’ll put you there.

00:02:48:10 – 00:03:06:52
Clint Loveall
I will. I will pass by you. My goodness, will pass by you and I will proclaim my name in front of you. But you can’t see my face. For no one who sees me face to face will live. Now, this sounds like a contradiction. Yesterday’s passage, when we were told literally he would speak to Moses face to face.

00:03:06:52 – 00:03:39:19
Clint Loveall
And if that’s troubling for you, remember that we’re talking about the personification of God. We’re giving God attributes that we understand, but those are not to be understood as actually what God is and who got it. This is the best language we have as we grasp for what it would mean that Moses would be in God’s presence. And so don’t read a word like face here, literally, because that’s not what this passage is is saying.

00:03:39:34 – 00:04:06:23
Clint Loveall
Nevertheless, Moses gets to be in the direct presence of God in this place and I’ll finish a little bit more. I think there’s an interesting wrinkle in this text. But but, Michael, this is you know, I don’t know what this story is in the context of the greater narrative, but certainly it’s an important story in the context of Moses, his own own narrative.

00:04:06:30 – 00:04:31:26
Michael Gewecke
Well, I think that’s where I was going to point our attention here. And just in case you wanted to be with us here, the text with our iPad not working today, we’re Exodus 33 all the way here after 417. And I think it’s worth noting that Moses, his story is intricately and intimately bound up with the people of Israel’s story.

00:04:31:26 – 00:04:59:13
Michael Gewecke
And I think that we sometimes might read the text like Exodus and almost think that Moses has an adversarial relationship with the people. We certainly see the complaining, his struggles for leadership at certain times, his own struggle to accept that God calls him into this kind of leadership position. But if you’re willing to slow down and to look at the text now as a whole, we’ve gone through, you know, 33 chapters of it together.

00:04:59:13 – 00:05:36:10
Michael Gewecke
Now, I think we we’ve seen this arc in which Moses is both the one who’s drawn out of the water and the one who God uses to bring the people through the water. And he is the one that God continues to return to in the relationship. And this language about the Lord being gracious to whom the Lord chooses to be gracious, this idea about, you know, speaking with God face to face and the previous text, and then now this idea that he’s going to be so much in the presence of God that he might actually not be able to stand up and live.

00:05:36:10 – 00:05:59:13
Michael Gewecke
So God’s going to make accommodation for him. I think all of this points us towards that deeper reality that Moses has been chosen by God. God is sovereign, God is God, Moses is the leader. He’s important. Yes, of course, a privileged role as he seeks to lead the people. Well, that said, this is God’s choice in God’s relationship with Moses.

00:05:59:13 – 00:06:31:13
Michael Gewecke
God is the one who is ultimately the the guider, the protector, the shepherd of the people of Israel. And a text like this both communicates Moses’s closeness to God, but interestingly, God’s closeness to the people God has chosen the this wayward group with all of their complaining and all their struggling God continues to draw near, and he continues to make this promise that he’s going to lead and guide Moses.

00:06:31:14 – 00:06:48:54
Michael Gewecke
I think it would be easy to read this as if this is only a personal moment with Moses. It is that, but I think it’s more than that. It’s a reminder that God is going to continue to show goodness to these people. He’s going to be gracious to these people. He’s going to be gracious even to Moses with his misgivings.

00:06:49:03 – 00:06:52:28
Michael Gewecke
And that’s the kind of movement we’ve seen throughout the whole text.

00:06:52:49 – 00:07:24:34
Clint Loveall
Yeah, I think there’s a lot going on in this passage, actually. Mark, we know this is Moses request. God says yes. Then God says these words indicating that God doesn’t really have to do anything. This is a gift to Moses. He’s being gracious to Moses. But even in the midst of that, he’s protecting Moses. You know, this idea that we saw inklings of this just a chapter ago where God says, If I’m around the people, I harm could come to them.

00:07:24:34 – 00:07:50:16
Clint Loveall
And the same is true here that Moses, if I gave you what you’re asking, you couldn’t you couldn’t take it, you couldn’t tolerate it. It would strike you down. To stand in the UN unchecked presence of God would be deadly for Moses. And so there is this compromise, this place in the rock. My glory passes by. I’ll cover you with my hand.

00:07:50:16 – 00:08:13:48
Clint Loveall
And again, don’t. Don’t think of these things as literal. We’re not talking about a giant hand here. This is just this is the language. We have to try and paint a picture of what’s happening. And after I’ve passed by, I will remove my hand and you shall see my back. And I want to be clear that, you know, in the story this is about Moses, Michael.

00:08:13:48 – 00:08:36:43
Clint Loveall
But I think this is always been a really interesting text to me devotional, because if you’ve tried to be Christian for a long, you have probably had a moment like Moses where you’ve just said, Lord, I just need something. I need to see something of you. I need to know something of you. I’m trying to do the right thing.

00:08:36:43 – 00:09:04:10
Clint Loveall
Life is frustrating. Life is difficult. I just need to know you’re with me and on this path, leading me, guiding me that that you’re here. And it’s a very, I think, natural kind of request. And the thing that is I as I read this and as I think of this through a preaching lens, Moses doesn’t get to see where God is going.

00:09:04:47 – 00:09:39:55
Clint Loveall
Moses gets to see where God has been. We we the best that we can hope for is to sort of see the back side of God, to know that we’re in the right steps, to know that we’re following our position is not one in which we can encounter God in the fullness of who God is. And yet we have these moments where God shows us these glimpses of Himself to encourage us and keep us on the track, that this is a fun passage to study.

00:09:39:55 – 00:09:54:16
Clint Loveall
It’s a fun passage to think of devotion lead to preach. Sister. I think if you allow yourself to kind of leave the text and begin spinning about what else it might mean, there’s some really good stuff here.

00:09:54:36 – 00:10:22:21
Michael Gewecke
Well, the image of rock in the midst of the the poles, the bookends, you know, we had the stone tablets, the covenant, the Ten Commandments made, and then Moses breaks them. And then in just a moment, next week, we’re going to see the commandments written again. And this is very much a build up to that. I think it’s meaningful that while those are written on stone now Moses is protected by the rock.

00:10:22:21 – 00:10:53:49
Michael Gewecke
He’s protected from the presence of God. And there is a kind of Old Testament emphasis here, which I certainly think for Christians is a little foreign. This idea that in the face of God, there is danger, that the historic Christian interpretation, when you look at Jesus who calls the children to him, this very anti cultural kind of openness, Jesus calls to him the weak, the powerless, the sick, the outcast.

00:10:53:49 – 00:11:20:34
Michael Gewecke
These are the ones who Jesus invites in. And it’s striking that here we see that the sheer power of God, that goodness and graciousness is still life threatening here. And I think it’s C.S. Lewis who writes in The Chronicles of Narnia, right. That God is what is it? That Aslan is good, but he’s not safe or he’s great but not safe?

00:11:20:34 – 00:11:41:15
Michael Gewecke
And I think that’s the kind of sentiment here, that God is good, God is gracious, but yet it’s not safe to be in God’s presence because God not because God’s wrath for bent on destruction, but because imperfection in the presence of perfection at the foundations RATTLE Yeah.

00:11:41:16 – 00:12:04:08
Clint Loveall
And you know, the word we would use there, Michael, I think is are and we tend it’s interesting if you look at the root or it includes the idea of fear, and we tend to go one way with the word all in America. We tend to go awesome, right? But it’s the same route that leads to awful to to fear full of awe.

00:12:04:10 – 00:12:41:20
Clint Loveall
And I think when the Old Testament talks about are it really brings together both of those elements, that idea of being stunned by the awesomeness of God, but also the the otherness to be humbled, to be startled, even to be afraid in the in the sense of reverence, of the holiness of God. And I think we we begin to see that maybe even if if we can finish here, I’ll try to read this quickly, but I think it gets us there this next part of the story.

00:12:41:38 – 00:12:58:49
Clint Loveall
So starting with the first verse of chapter 34, then the Lord said to Moses, Cut to tablets of stone like the former ones, and I will write on these tablets the words that were on the former tablets which you broke. Be ready in the morning, come up in the morning to Mt. Sinai. No one shall come up with you.

00:12:58:49 – 00:13:36:45
Clint Loveall
There’s some instructions given here. Jumping to verse four, Moses cut the two tablets of stone like the former ones. He rose early in the morning. He went to Sinai as the Lord. He commanded. He took in his hand the tablets. The Lord descended in a cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name the Lord. The Lord passed before him proclaiming the Lord the Lord a God, merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.

00:13:36:45 – 00:14:07:57
Clint Loveall
Yet by no means clearing the guilty, but visiting the iniquity of parents upon their children and children’s children to the third and fourth generations. And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped, saying, If now I have found favor in your side, Oh Lord, I pray, let the Lord go with us. Although this is a stiff neck people pardon or iniquity and our sin and take us for your inheritance.

00:14:08:13 – 00:14:41:34
Clint Loveall
So this is kind of a reestablishment of the covenant of the promise. There’s new tablets, there’s a new litany, a new liturgy, there’s a proclamation of both forgiveness and accountability. And then there’s the response of Moses. And I think this is a beautiful response. Michael, if I have found favor in your eyes, be with us. And here, as we exit this story, we’re reminded that Moses always sees his role as one of advocacy on behalf of the whole people.

00:14:41:52 – 00:14:59:51
Clint Loveall
If I have found favor be with us and we are a stiff neck people, but pardon our iniquity and our sin and take us as your inheritance is really, I think, a really profound place where we end up with Moses in this text.

00:15:00:16 – 00:15:22:27
Michael Gewecke
One of the things that’s so striking about Clint is the recognition that is so clear here that Moses isn’t arguing that the people are going to do better. He doesn’t show up to God and say, I promise we’ll get it right this time. No, it’s that he uses the very language that God used to describe the people, to say that they are a stiff necked people, so to say, Yeah, they are.

00:15:22:37 – 00:16:04:10
Michael Gewecke
We are even in describing ourselves, going to find it difficult to worship God. That’s true. But take us as an inheritance. You know, take the people not on the merit of their choices or actions, but take them as a matter of their of your own choice, of your own free will. And you know that is, I think maybe the the heart of prayer is reflected really not much better in any other part of this book, because in this engagement with God, Moses both pleads his case as God, let this be the case, and also defers to God.

00:16:05:16 – 00:16:28:37
Michael Gewecke
You know, God, ultimately we need you. This isn’t a bargaining session. This isn’t Moses squaring up with God. There’s no manipulation here. This is Moses saying, you know, in the midst of this holy moment, Moses, by the way, worshiping, while admitting the people are stiff necked. I mean, that’s its own kind of nuance. An interesting sort of tension there.

00:16:28:37 – 00:16:56:40
Michael Gewecke
But I just think a text like this reminds us that it all hinges on God. It has. From the beginning, the people relied upon God for their deliverance, and they will rely upon the out the other side of their idolatry. And Moses is honest about that. And the writer of Exodus makes it clear that God is proceeding in this relationship not because of some kind of negotiated hope, but because God has made the choice.

00:16:56:40 – 00:16:58:10
Michael Gewecke
And that’s what’s necessary.

00:16:58:19 – 00:17:24:55
Clint Loveall
Yeah, I think this text clearly anticipates there will be further ups and downs for the people. Moses will be in the middle of that. There’ll be some ups and downs with Moses himself on both sides in the relationship with God as well as his leadership of the people. Just a note, Michael. This language, the Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

00:17:25:13 – 00:17:48:55
Clint Loveall
This becomes an important refrain. You can find this in other parts of the Old Testament. It becomes a kind of discourse, repetitive way to talk about God, I think may be the most notable occurrence of it is these are the words that Jonah uses complaining about God when he’s sent to Nineveh. He says, I knew you would do this.

00:17:48:55 – 00:18:18:16
Clint Loveall
I knew you would try to forgive the invites because you are a God who’s merciful and gracious and slow to anger. So this is more than well, these are God’s own words in this case. They get put in Jonah’s mouth later, but it’s more than just words about God. This is central to the character of God. This is a description of who God is merciful, gracious, slow to anger, Abounding is steadfast love forgiving iniquity.

00:18:18:55 – 00:18:45:55
Clint Loveall
Yet by no means clearing the guilty and visiting the iniquity upon generations. So this is the tension of the Old Testament, the goodness of God and the holiness of God, the graciousness of God and the wrath and punishment of God. These these are the major themes that we see worked out in the nation of Israel and in the relationship, the covenant relationship with God.

00:18:45:55 – 00:19:16:40
Clint Loveall
And I think it’s fun to read the first part of this. You know, my Bible, it actually lands where the good part is on one page column, and then the rough part is on the next column. It’s fun to have the first part. We love slow and slow to anger and steadfast and faithful in forgiving our sins. We like to kind of minimize or forget that second part, but it is there and it is a it is a very important and prevalent theme.

00:19:17:07 – 00:19:19:08
Clint Loveall
Any time we talk about God.

00:19:19:08 – 00:19:47:51
Michael Gewecke
Well, the yet is the essential connective word there that yet by no means and that is the tension as you say it and I think it’s worth noting and slowing down that the Old Testament does present a thoroughgoing picture that humans have a part of the covenant to show up. There’s expectation and God is disappointed throughout the Old Testament when that expectations are not met.

00:19:47:51 – 00:20:25:49
Michael Gewecke
Now, I think you see the tension even in the texts like this claim this language of merciful, gracious, these words assume that there’s something to be gracious over, that mercy is required. Right? So I think it’s built into the text. But that said, God does have this this response, that it’s judgment when the people have been given God’s way and and God who is right and just and has kept his part of the agreement is by character, responds.

00:20:25:49 – 00:20:49:28
Michael Gewecke
And I think that we struggle with that from our vantage who have heard and really been marked by and shaped by the gospel Jesus Christ that that God would be willing to take the very judgment for the people’s lack of faithfulness upon God’s self. I mean, that’s that’s an astonishing theological claim that transforms the way that we read the Bible.

00:20:49:28 – 00:21:13:24
Michael Gewecke
But when you are studying the Old Testament, you have to for a moment step into the shoes of those before Jesus Christ and see how this text shaped their imaginations. And then I do think that helps us both understand and appreciate what we discover in the New Testament, where they struggle so mightily to understand who Jesus is and what he’s proclaiming and what he claims to be doing.

00:21:13:37 – 00:21:40:15
Clint Loveall
Yeah, I think the the difficulty there, Michael, is that the Old Testament on the by acidly and unashamedly says God is both of those God is gracious and God does hold accountable. God does forgive debts and God remembers iniquity that that those aren’t things that God does, those are aspects of who God is. And we see them on display throughout different parts of the Old Testament.

00:21:40:15 – 00:22:02:45
Clint Loveall
There are times we clearly see grace, there are times we clearly see punishment and it matters, I think, Michael and it no running a little long here. I’ll be quick, but it matters that that comes to us in a text where Moses has wanted to see all of God but is only able to see part of God because I think that’s that’s the best we ever get, right?

00:22:02:45 – 00:22:28:58
Clint Loveall
None of us are capable. None of us are able to understand and who God is. So we understand these natures of God and we and we try to recognize our glimpses of them and understand what they mean. And we see them most fully in the New Testament. For for Christians, this becomes the primary way we understand who God is, is what we see and who we see Jesus Christ to be so, yeah, a lot of good stuff here.

00:22:28:58 – 00:22:34:17
Clint Loveall
I think you could dig into this text quite a bit and there would there would still be a lot to uncover.

00:22:34:40 – 00:22:55:24
Michael Gewecke
Just very, very, very briefly, I want to make sure it’s clear that I don’t think of this is just esoteric study the Bible things. I think this is very practical. I’ve had recent conversations with folks going through some very difficult times asking the question, why? Why is God loving this happened? Where is God in the midst of this real difficult, troubled situation?

00:22:55:24 – 00:23:40:17
Michael Gewecke
And I think it’s worth remembering texts like this one where God is at work and yet God is doing so through sometimes difficult and always mysterious means. And I hope that there can be some comfort, maybe, maybe a reminder in the midst of difficult circumstances that God is still working out, still revealing. God is being good and gracious, though that’s not always packaged in a way that makes sense or the way that from this side of eternity that we can see how it connects to everything else doesn’t take away the sting, doesn’t even take away the strangeness of the compromises that God makes with Moses here in the text.

00:23:40:30 – 00:24:01:42
Michael Gewecke
But the point being, God, this is God’s character that has been revealed and we can trust God’s character. It does make it easy, doesn’t make it always clear, but it does give us a place that we can put our our trust and faith. And when we do that, God is faithful to the covenant, as God has always been faithful to the Covenant as we’re continuing to discover the other.

00:24:02:01 – 00:24:12:19
Clint Loveall
Yeah, we we can certainly not always count on God to do what we want. We can always count on God to be God, and that much will always be true.

00:24:12:30 – 00:24:19:22
Michael Gewecke
So good summary for the week. Thank you for being with us. Friends are glad that you spent some time with us and look forward to seeing you next week. Until then, be blessed.

00:24:19:22 – 00:24:28:03
Clint Loveall
Thanks everybody.